All the checked luggage gets palletised like regular cargo. If we "boomerang" (make it part way down and then turn around and head back) our luggage won't get uncrated unless they expect us to be stuck in Christchurch for at least three days more.

Departing.

Boarding the bus to the plane.

Marco waits on the bus.

Me on the bus.

Enzo boards the bus.

Marie boards the bus.

The Italian Antarctic Program plane.

Our transport to McMurdo: a C-17 Globemaster.

The first bus of passengers has already arrived and is waiting to board the plane.

C-17 engines.

The USAP hangar.

The tail.

Boarding time.

Massive engines and landing gear of the C-17.

Inside the C-17. This big cylinder contains one of the strands for the Icecube Experiment, down at Pole.

The in-flight accommodations.

Looking tailward at the cargo. Passengers are only a small portion of the load of the transport.

One of the crew does the pre-takeoff rundown. "There's a life jacket under your seat. In the event we go down over water, we're all going to die, so let's not bother with that."

Deep, Very Deep Space. My reading material for the flight. Marco found it onboard.

An explosive hatch in the roof of the cargo bay. Note the exit sign.

(8433x3306, 11261.95 kb) The view in the 17 from my seat. Try looking at this picture for five hours. That's sort of what the flight is like.

Another view back towards the cargo.

Take off. The best indication that we had taken off was that afterwards the plane was significantly more inclined.

Complementary lunch.

My book has a spelling mistake on the first page... an indication of the quality to come.

A better view of lunch: two sandwiches (beef), two bags of chips, a chocolate muffin, a chocolate chip cookie, a granola bar, a Twix, an orange, an apple, a bottle of apple juice and a bottle of water. All in a handy (and reusable) brown paper bag.

Enzo on his way to the ice.

At the rear of the passenger section looking forward.

The Antarctic Ocean, as viewed from one of the tiny windows in the hold.

The tiny window itself. Possibly a foot in diameter.

Penguin chips.

Marco in his seat. He's the only one of us that ended up in a "regular" airplane seat, as opposed to the cargo seating along the sides of the transport.

Mark in his seat.

Marie reads.

Another view of the cargo. In the back left you can see the pallet of checked luggage.

Chris and Drew, the LDB guys, were on this flight as well.

The shipping label on the giant Icecube spool. Total shipping weight: 15,000 lbs.

Another window. The numbers up above are inches from the nose.

Me enroute to McMurdo.

Chapter 5 from my book.

The other chapter 5 in my book. Obviously the whole copy editing step was skipped when this book was pushed out.

What passes for water in the US air force.

The view from the front of the hold. There are five rows of five regular airplane seats in the hold on skids for easy removal. Another twenty or so of us sat on the cargo seating along the side bulkheads.

The flight deck.

The flight deck.

The view from the flight deck. Lots of clouds, with ice below it. In the distance somewhere is Heard Island.